rpm

This time, I'm going to try to do two Tours - essentially back to back:

Tour 1 - Mostly for those who have not been on Tour before, should be very similar to the 2008 Tour.

Tour 2 - For those who have already enjoyed a Tour (including participants in Tour 1 who are gluttons for 'punishment') - Tour 2 will be much more concentrated on one or two varietals in one area: possibilities include Napa Cabernet; Chardonnay, etc. With appropriate digressions.

OK, Now we can edit this post a bit:

Edit: As noted, we have now determined that the Tours will be the week of July 23-27th. This timing was dictated by the needs of participating wineries. We'll be revising this #1 post further (and updating the lists) as things develop.

The first tour will give priority to New Tourists. Only if it is not full will we add Veterans.

The second Tour will give require a prior tour (including the first Tour if someone is enough of a glutton for punishment and wants to stick around) or consent of the instructor.

Limit will be [strike]24[/strike] 30 on each Tour, with waiting lists.

THE NONREFUNDABLE DEPOSIT IS $250, payable as described to woopdedoo -- pm him for address information and name for check -- NOT LATER THAN MARCH 5th.

1. If you are still interested, you MUST pay the deposit on time if want to hold your spot(s).

2. If you are shown as single, and actually have a +1 for sure (are willing to deposit on the +1), we will give your +1 the same priority as you have.

3. If you're shown with a +1, but it is tentative, and you are not prepared to deposit on the +1, also respond so that others can move up the list.

4. As described, deposits are NONREFUNDABLE. If you deposit, and have to withdraw, the next person on the waiting list, if any, will have the opportunity to take your spot and to reimburse you for your deposit. We will not add a new person unless they confirm to us they will reimburse the person they are replacing, but the actual payment arrangements will need to be made between the Tourist dropping out and his or her replacement Tourist.

Edit: This post will be updated fairly regularly to reflect those who wish to be added or removed.

We are already in "waiting list" territory for the New Tourists and close to "waiting list" territory for the Returning Tourists. It is important not to be put off by being on the waiting list at this stage - in the past, we have been able to accommodate everyone who wanted to come as many people drop out for one reason or another.

kittymac

HitAnyKey42

My personal preference for dates of the veteran tour would be the Tues-Thurs, rather than the Mon-Wed. There's a couple reasons for this, one of them being that due to work things, I kinda need to work on the Mon 7/23 (but could fly out that night). Also, if we did the one week for both tours I would hope it would be the week of 7/23-7/27. As the prior week I wouldn't be able to do at all.

As for the Tues-Thurs preference, the non-work reason is that it allows for extending for beyond the tour. Friday would be a good day for more winery stuffs, or just touring/relaxing around the area. So that would allow for a Tues-Sat (or Tues-Sun) vacation with a day or two after the tour for doing other things.

To sum up: 7/16-7/20 don't work for me at all. I'd prefer no 7/23. The rest is all good.

Cesare

-il CesareSole Absolute Triple
Exalted High Tastemaster Supreme
“In the entire world there are only a few sounds that bring joy to all but the most jaded. One is the murmur of a kitten purring. Another is the thwack of a well-pitched baseball hitting a perfectly swung bat. And the third is the pop of a cork being pulled from a bottle of wine.” —George Taber

gregorylane

OK, Now we're getting down to crunch time and we're wrestling with logistics of whether we can do two tours in adjacent weeks, or whether we should try to do two tours in one week with one overlapping day, so that there can be one large community gathering of the combined groups for a hello/goodbye dinner.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. We are pretty much confined to touring during the week, because weekends are full of high season non-rpm tourists who will mob the wineries.

We are focusing on the week of July 16-20th for the New Tourists Magical History Tour.

If we do 2 separate Tours, we'd do Tuesday-Thursday, as we have in the past. This works well with the wineries and avoids crowds (other than us). If we do the second Tour for Veterans would either be Monday - Wednesday (23-25 or Tuesday-Thursday (24-26) of the following week.

If we try to stick to one week, we would have Tour 1 start on Monday, with Wednesday as the overlap day (exactly what that would mean is unclear - I can't imagine a 50 person group at any winery working), and Tour 2 continuing Thursday and Friday.

As we nail this down, we're looking for input.

As mentioned before, the first tour will give priority to New Tourists. Only if it is not full will we add Veterans.

The second Tour will give require a prior tour (including the first Tour if someone is enough of a glutton for punishment and wants to stick around) or consent of the instructor.

I will transfer the indications of interest from the prior thread into two columns: New Tourists and Returning Tourists.

Limit will be 24 on each Tour, with waiting lists.

We'll have nonrefundable deposit information up as soon as we nail down the schedule.

These lists are very preliminary, but are in the order of sign up/indication of serious interest.

1. If you are still interested, you MUST post your interest to this thread within the next ten days if you want to hold your spot(s).

2. If you are shown as single, and actually have a +1 for sure (are willing to deposit on the +1), we will give your +1 the same priority as you have.

3. If you're shown with a +1, but it is tentative, and you are not prepared to deposit on the +1, also respond so that others can move up the list.

Anyone who has not signed up and is seriously interested (and prepared to deposit by mid-February), sign up now!

More information as soon as possible, but dates are not locked yet, so I wouldn't book the flights this week.

rpm,
Winetrancer is my wife! We are to be on the veterans tour I would think! If possible we would like to bring a +2...our Son from Chicago. Sorry for any confusion as I thought you would know who winetrancer was.

Edit: Let this stand as our interest stated...your decision on a +2 will be adhered to...he would be a newbie, but has been studying his wines for several years now, and is quite good.
Edit #2: all of the veterans with newbie +1s...are you going to decide?

There is really no point in trying to explain liberty to people who don't understand what it means.
rpm-2012

wnance

Shannon and I would *love* to go, but unfortunately I think that will be right in the middle of the RPO summer season. The orchestra hasn't put the detailed schedule out yet, so we don't know what the week will look like.

Thanks for putting this together, though, what a great opportunity for the woot community, both new and veterans!

joelsisk

rpm

gregorylane wrote:rpm,
Winetrancer is my wife! We are to be on the veterans tour I would think! If possible we would like to bring a +2...our Son from Chicago. Sorry for any confusion as I thought you would know who winetrancer was.

Edit: Let this stand as our interest stated...your decision on a +2 will be adhered to...he would be a newbie, but has been studying his wines for several years now, and is quite good.
Edit #2: all of the veterans with newbie +1s...are you going to decide?

My blushes, I had forgotten. I will fix you in the right order in the Veteran Tour. Gotta think about +2 and see how it's shaking out.

richardhod

Thank you rpm! I approve of the deposits, since last time we had to pony up unexpectedly more wonga because of pullouts at the very last minute. However, I'm glad some did because that meant I got to go!

I'm in, and I'll check and get back to you re my +1 (if so, might hope for both tours!).

jawlz

Unfortunately, I don't think I or my +1 will be able to make it, as we'll just be getting back from our (month long! hooray!) honeymoon in early July, and taking additional time off work, if even possible, would be difficult. Hopefully this will make space for someone else who is interested in going, and we'll be able to make any (potential) subsequent tours.

joelsisk

Can anyone who has gone give an indication of what the actual cost for the tours were in the past and better for an expectation for the neophyte tour? (I have an idea, but still need to budget and a rough estimate would be helpful)

I also understand that the tour costs are not all-inclusive, so aside from travel and hotel costs, what other costs were involved?

JesseM3

richardhod

joelsisk wrote:I know there was discussion about deposits, (non)refundability, etc.

Can anyone who has gone give an indication of what the actual cost for the tours were in the past and better for an expectation for the neophyte tour? (I have an idea, but still need to budget and a rough estimate would be helpful)

I also understand that the tour costs are not all-inclusive, so aside from travel and hotel costs, what other costs were involved?

Thanks and looking forward to getting more excited...

Last year it was slated to be about $600 but I think it ended up around $800 after the last-minute pullouts (there needs to be a cutoff of say a week or two for pullouts having to pay full price).

The price included a great minibus (and brilliant driver, who among other things showed us the ripe figs on the tree at Pine Ridge), tours and tastings, some great lunches. I can't remember if dinners were included, but I think not.

The hotel we were at was about $100/night for a room. I shared with two others making it cheaper for us younger lads.

sanity

I am still interested, +1, if the newbie tour is held the following week of the 23rd, M-W or Tue-Th. If the newbie tour is definitely being held the week of the 16th, then please remove me from the list.

tiger7610

Speaking of roomates, if I do end up going on this tour, I'm going to need someone to share a room with, and based on my experience of finding a roomate for the clambake its going to be difficult. It seems that single female wooters have disappeared from the forums.

epistemologonhere

tiger7610 wrote:Speaking of roomates, if I do end up going on this tour, I'm going to need someone to share a room with, and based on my experience of finding a roomate for the clambake its going to be difficult. It seems that single female wooters have disappeared from the forums.

see if Tenuki's bringing any of his single female oenophile friends (or suggesting they come). Just put the word out around the pub etc!

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